The latest Investing Matters Podcast with Jean Roche, Co-Manager of Schroder UK Mid Cap Investment Trust has just been released. Listen here.
Pottery,
"But the healthy cash accumulation"
That's the point, it's not a healthy cash accumulation.
The Trade Desk and MediaMath, both huge companies within the AdTech Ecosystem had to raise money because of the way inventory payments work.
"DSPs shoulder this burden directly because they constantly owe money to inventory suppliers. The Trade Desk took out a $200 million loan in 2017 to preserve liquidity while it bridges inventory payments. MediaMath has raised more than $600 million, including $225 million last year."
https://adexchanger.com/online-advertising/sizmeks-bankruptcy-is-changing-how-the-supply-side-manages-dsp-debts/
Likewise rthm, now merged with Trmr, showed cash of around $126m just 5 yrs ago. They had a fraction of that balance when they merged with Trmr earlier this year.
Rthm still show as having 2 charges outstanding - these, totaling $100m, were setup 2 yrs ago by Ted Hasting.
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06223359/charges
Mithaq holding is registered in Saudi.
Mithaq Capital is registered in Cayman Islands.
Mithaq holding increases to 15%
Note their registered office has changed from Saudi Arabia, 3 months ago, to Cayman Islands now..
Aug Saudi Arabia:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/tremor-international--trmr-/rns/holding-s--in-company/201908061053590924I/
Cayman Islands:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/tremor-international--trmr-/rns/holding-s--in-company/201911251316295668U/
There's still not much info in the public domain regarding Mithaq..
Where were the companies behind the short selling in Blinkx(now rthm), merged with Trmr based? Cayman Islands...
https://www.ft.com/content/39a324bc-70aa-11e4-9129-00144feabdc0
Companies within Ad Tech ecosystem need to carry extremely high cash balances because of the way the ecosystem work...
"More broadly, Sizmek’s crisis highlights a deeper issue: the cost pressures of ad tech vendor pricing structures. For instance, due to the cashflow set up and lengthy payment terms between advertiser clients and their agencies, SSPs at the other end of the chain can end up acting as the float for the agency holding groups and the advertisers, according to a former SSP executive.
Typically, clients pay agencies on average, 90 days after a project’s delivery. Agencies then pay the trading desks, which pay the DSPs. Usually, the SSP has invoiced the DSP with much shorter payment terms — typically 30 days, according to sources. Those SSPs that can offer publishers the shortest payment terms will likely end up with their business.
But this means an SSP can carry in the high tens of millions of dollars in working capital requirements every month. Not cheap. A go-to way to shoulder that additional cost is to take out short-term loans with banks to cover the cost. Those loans wouldn’t extend to when a DSP defaults, however."
https://digiday.com/media/tip-ice-berg-sizmek-saga-spells-trouble-ad-tech/
He's also on trial in UK....
Seems like still a few more months before judgement.
"The case will overrun into January 2020 by a few days, with a potential judgment day being scheduled for May."
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/08/05/mike_lynch_leaves_witness_box_autonomy_trial/
The man behind blinkx (rthm) stepped down, just after the July 2014 profit warning, a few months after the 2014 Blog...
"yesterday stood down from the board of Blinkx, the online video company spun off from Autonomy. Lynch will step down on 31 December, but has agreed to join the group’s advisory board. “Mike has been on the Blinkx board since its inception, and was instrumental to the company’s genesis and evolution. All of us at Blinkx owe Mike a debt of gratitude for his untiring support of the company over the years,” said chairman Anthony Bettencourt"
https://www.cityam.com/autonomy-founder-mike-lynch-steps-down-blinkx-board/
Eddie,
" soon followed by the news of closing down existing Perk operations "
Can you please post a link to the rns, where Trmr have announced that Perk is closing?
If trmr haven't announced it to the market, why would the market react?
PotteryExpert,
"Ah right, Dataxu, that's it stt"
DataXu are one of the larger players and have just been bought by Roku.
Don't you think it would have been a great fit for trmr and at $150m, a similar price as rthm?
Tricky,
"With hindsight many of us were over-optimistic as ordinary investors but the show is not over yet.
We are still in the game, absorbed by a fairly healthy company, despite the negative criticism by he cannot be mentioned, about stuff such as skeletons in the cupboards and negative headwinds / industry challenges."
You're still over optimistic!! Your comments on the challenges the industry faced were well documented and so are made in hindsight. The company need a visionary who is able to seek opportunities and handle challenges well BEFORE ALL THEIR COMPETITORS... A leader not a follower. That was lacking at rthm and seems to be the same at trmr.
The Challenges were well documented and investors should adjust their investment and strategy accordingly.
Crucially, the challenges facing the industry are only going to increase and smaller players will continue to suffer the most as they can't plan for them, can't afford to implement changes or believe that the challenges won't effect them, until it's too late..
Take CCPA, one such challenge - a NEW challenge, which becomes effective in 6 weeks time.
The consequences of this new challenge as well as the closing of Perk will not be known until well into next year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Act
Ragnar,
"If anyone has some contradictory analysis or opinions on the company's prospects"
Good post. The company/Industry newsflow provides good indicator as to where the company/industry is heading.
If the company provides evidence that they are overcoming industry challenges and seizing opportunities then the sp will take care of itself.
Closing of several of rthm's operations will result in loss of revenue/cash from those operations from fy end onwards.
Looks like rthm, pre-trmr merger, made a huge mistake by taking legal action against DataXu.
DataXu/Roku taking on The Trade Desk, OTT/CTV, with their new offerings...
DataXu still don't have rthm/Trmr listed as a partner, so trmr will miss out..
Rthm/DataXu legal battle - The consequences are ongoing, as expected.
https://adexchanger.com/online-advertising/rhythmone-dataxu-tussel-unpaid-bills-hidden-fees/
Roku/DataXu take on The Trade Desk:
https://articles2.marketrealist.com/2019/11/roku-takes-on-ttd-with-the-dataxu-acquisition/
Trmr(rthm) not listed as a DataXu partner - trmr still losing out, with Roku/DataXu huge OTT/CTV offering.
https://www.dataxu.com/about-us/partners/
Tardis,
"So Rubicon have half our revenue, but double our Market Cap."
Look at DataXu, recently sold for $150m... It's the sold prices which are more important than current mcap. DataXu were trying to sell the company for $300m a year ago but eventually went for $150m.
According to this article:
"The revenue is estimated at $236 million, which might be an aggressive forecast looking at the $150 million deal. However, dataxu was eyeing an exit valuation of $300 million."
More interesting:
"In July this year, dataxu announced a partnership with APS (Amazon Publisher Services) (AMZN) in the CTV (connected TV) space. Prior to this partnership, dataxu was already a leading CTV marketplace with 15 billion monthly CTV impressions. The partnership with Amazon will help dataxu grow household reach and monthly CTV impressions. Also, Amazon partnered with TTD in the CTV segment."
https://articles2.marketrealist.com/2019/11/roku-takes-on-ttd-with-the-dataxu-acquisition/
Eddie,
Are you not capable of discussing the company or industry newsflow without me?
Does the future of your investment solely depend on my opinions?
Feel free to discuss the company's potential first.
All my posts are there to be seen and the current problems facing the company and industry well documented and as expected.
"this recognition and acceptance that you so badly crave from this and other Bulletin Boards will continue to allude you for the best part as you never have put a balanced view point not even once I don’t think."
Were you looking in the mirror when you posted that comment?
I don't look for popularity, acceptance or recognition...
But it's clear from your post that you are.
;-)
"until it ..." should be "THEN IT it became legacy and "yesterday's news"
PotteryExpert,
"Stts concerns are industry challenges but the industry outlook for CTV is great so why not at least talk about that?"
The industry outlook for programmatic was great as well until industry challenges affected them.. until it became legacy and "yesterday's" news....and now Trmr are closing Perk.com and CFO sells
Yes, as you've suggested it, why not post your opinion?
This contract is up for tender:
https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:60063-2019:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
Staffordshire was also where TLY improved the CQC by 2 CQC ratings... If contracts are awarded on Merit then I think TLY should be in with a good chance..
Hopefully, we'll know in a couple of weeks...
"In an almost unprecedented move, Vocare has improved the Royal Stoke Urgent Care Centre ("UCC") service by two CQC ratings in six months, moving it from 'Inadequate' to 'Good'. It also improved the rating of both the GP Out of Hours ("OOH") and NHS 111 services to 'Good', meaning that Staffordshire is now rated 'Good' across the board."
https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/totally/news/rns/story/rmm1dvr
DocMartin,
From earlier in the week:
Targeting Premium Inventory...
What's next for ad-tech?
"In their place, we will see a move to brand ‘suitability’, which goes well beyond simple blocking to include the ability to identify and target premium inventory. Brand suitability will mean advertisers get access to more premium inventory, and more control of their adspend, while publishers will benefit from increases in scale and a more complete match of their high-value environments to advertisers."
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/whats-next-ad-tech/1664823
DocMartin,
"what do you mean with Premium Dedicated Users?"
1st party data, premium inventory - users who are signed up to their service(s).
As they are signed up to their service(s), they've also agreed to any marketing/advertising, as in t&cs.. so it's easier to target them.
Safi,
"With the winding down of unprofitable revenue streams "
Perk was bought because of their Premium Dedicated Users.
Ad Tech companies want 1st Party Data and it commands a premium.
I suspect Trmr were 'forced' to close Perk because of Privacy concerns, ie GDPR/CCPA. Those Industry Challenges that continue to affect Trmr.
The loss of revenue, cash from closing rthm operations, including Perk and the rthm DSP, will be in future accounts, ie not in fy2019, Dec 2019.
He sold nearly £1m worth for tax purposes!!
There were several large 'sell' trades this afternoon.... 100k, 2x75k, 2x50k...
Maybe there'll be another holding rns soon.
Following on from his recent 75k sell, the CFO now sells a massive 637k shares.
This follows on from 2 rthm CFOs resigning within a space of 5 months, just before the rthm merger with trmr in Apr.
Perk.com closing, several rthm operations closing, industry challenges hit...
I wonder what the CFO has seen... Obviously he is closer to the financials than anyone else...